Friday, March 29, 2013

The first five books in Swedish author Arne Dahl's 'Intercrime' series have been adapted for television, two episodes per book. The series begins on BBC4 on Saturday 6 April at 9pm with the first part of The Blinded Man (aka Misterioso).

The Blinded Man tr. Tiina Nunnally, is available in English and the sequel Bad Blood is out in July.

High-flying financiers are being murdered and it is beginning to appear like the work of a serial killer. CID inspector Jenny Hultin puts together a team of top detectives to crack the case swiftly before there are more deaths and a national panic. One of the team, Paul Hjelm, is saved from a disciplinary hearing for shooting a hostage taker when he said he was unarmed. Together with his new colleagues he finds himself working 24 hours a day in shifts to find the killer quickly. They are 'A Unit' and their pursuit of the Fat Cat Killer will expose tensions within the newly-formed group and put some of them in fear of their lives. And what do the financier killings have to do with the Estonian mafia and the discovery of a dead robber in an empty bank with a dart in his eye?

Friday, March 22, 2013

Lise McClendon's The Bluejay Shaman is currently free on UK Kindle. It's the first in the Alix Thorssen series. (The Euro Crime connection is that Alix is part Norwegian and the third book in the series is called Nordic Nights!)

Traveling the back roads of Montana, not-quite-fearless art gallery
owner Alix Thorssen is far from home and up to her Ray-bans in shaman’s
secrets, mysterious deaths, madness, and – ah yes – passion among the
pine needles. Whoever killed Shiloh Merkin hated her and wanted her
dead. But did Wade Fraser, Alix’s brother-in-law and University of
Montana anthropology professor, do the deed? What happened to the
petroglyph of the bluejay shaman? Alix follows a trail of sex, moonlit
rituals, and legendary artifacts as another murder leads her to a
chilling confrontation with the killer.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The Dance of the Seagull by Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli, March 2013, 224 pages, Mantle, ISBN: 1447228715

THE DANCE OF THE SEAGULL is the fifteenth outing for Sicilian Inspector Montalbano and whereas the CWA-Award winning THE POTTER'S FIELD was about Montalbano's relationship with his deputy, Mimi Augello, SEAGULL highlights his relationship with his colleague Fazio.

Montalbano's long-distance girlfriend Livia flies in to go on holiday with Montabano to another part of the island but Montalbano's not happy about it:

I wouldn't want to run into a film crew shooting an episode of that television series just as we're walking around there...They film them around there you know....And what if I find myself face to face with the actor who plays me?….he's totally bald, whereas I've got more hair than I know what to do with!

Before he and Livia get away however, it seems that Fazio has disappeared. He had told his wife he was meeting Montalbano at the port the previous night and hasn't been seen since. Montalbano has to find out what Fazio's been up to and rescue his friend, if he's been captured, or worse find his body. So begins an investigation which encompasses several deaths, romantic subterfuge and ends with a risky plan to bring down the culprits.

THE DANCE OF THE SEAGULL is Montalbano firing on all cylinders as he outwits those who would hurt his “family” and brings justice to those who consider themselves untouchable. Montalbano, in the main, is as open-minded and compassionate as we've come to expect with the victims and family of victims, with one exception – he is unpleasantly harsh with one victim/witness, which seemed out of character. His relationship with Livia is still as prickly as ever though. The usual mix of wit, food descriptions and political observations run through the narrative and I found myself chuckling regularly. After the slightly weak THE AGE OF DOUBT – the events in which are not referred to at all in this book and despite the similar port setting – this was a real treat.

As I always do, I recommend starting from the beginning, THE SHAPE OF WATER, if you've not read any before, partly because this is a great series but also to follow Montalbano's ageing and how he rails against it and to understand the background to his internal arguments with 'Montalbano One' and 'Two' who are introduced a few books in.

Media reports of the disappearance and murder of a teenage girl remind
Timo of something that he has spent his adult life trying to forget,
that he was witness to a similar crime 23 years ago. All this time he
has kept his silence, but now, with a wife and family of his own, he
must confront the past.

Lynn Harvey reviews Chris Morgan Jones's The Jackal's Share, the sequel to An Agent of Deceit, writing "If you like contemporary spy thrillers, and even if you think you don't, The Jackal's Share is one to try and Chris Morgan Jones an author to follow";

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Antti Tuomainen's THE HEALER is set in an
unspecified but future time when climate change has meant
environmental and economic disaster. Those who can afford to flee
further north than Helsinki, the setting of THE HEALER, and
inhabitants of southern Europe are shifting northwards. Increased
rain and sea levels have left countless people homeless and made many
parts of Helsinki uninhabitable.

The protagonist of THE HEALER is Tapani, a poet
who hasn't sold anything for several years. His wife Johanna is a
journalist, trying to cover important issues rather that the
lightweight celebrity news that a depressed readership craves. And
then she goes missing.

Tapani knows that his wife has been covering 'The
Healer' case - that of a serial killer who has been targeting wealthy
businesspeople and their families - people who could have done
something about climate change if they hadn't been so greedy, in the
killer's opinion.

Tapani sets off to find his wife and is aided in
his quest unexpectedly by the policeman in charge of The Healer case
- a man who is a police officer to his core despite the dismal
situation the world finds itself in.

Tapani's investigations takes the reader on a tour
of Helsinki, interspersed with flashbacks to happier times with his
wife, as he uncovers secrets and finds that he may not know those
closest to him as well as he thought.

THE HEALER, like several books I've reviewed
recently is full of atmosphere, albeit a gloomy rain-sodden one,
slightly at the expense of the action. The plot, tied up refreshingly
in less than 250 pages, could be said to be very well constructed or,
equally, heavily laden with coincidences but it works in the main.
Although called 'The Healer', the book is not about him, it is about
a man trying to find his wife: a very noir, amateur private detective
story. There are some interesting secondary characters: the policeman
mentioned above and an immigrant taxi-driver who chauffeurs Tapani
around.

Readers of Scandinavian crime fiction will
probably by now feel at home in Stockholm's Gamla Stan or on Oslo's
Sofies gate and the slowly increasing number of Finnish crime novels
available in translation may mean that Helsinki becomes an equally
familiar place. At the moment though, the futuristic Helsinki in the
THE HEALER seemed to me a very alien place, it almost could be on a
different planet.

THE HEALER is an unusual crime novel and the
ethereal tone is reminiscent of Jan Costin Wagner's Kimmo Joentaa
series, also set in Finland.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

I've just received a press release telling me about a new Italian crime series, Inspector Nardone (Il Commissario Nardone) starring Sergio Assisi. It's already been on in the US (and is available as a R1 DVD) but will debut in the UK on Friday 15 March at 11pm on True Movies 2 (Sky 322, Freesat 303).
The series is twelve episodes long and is being shown in two-episode blocks every night from 15 to 20 March.

From the press release:
"A grey but optimistic post-war Milan is the ideal breeding ground for a new criminal scene, verydifferent from the one we are used to today: an old fashioned organized crime, made up of thievesand outlaws who share a specific moral code, which absolutely condemns homicide. MarioNardone as the new chief officer is assigned to the Milan Police Department, as if to settle a scorefor having exposed his corrupt colleagues.”

“Based on a real figure, a true legend in Milan during the 50s and 60s. Mario Nardone seems to bea character from Maigret creator Georges Simenon novel."

Monday, March 11, 2013

The following press release has been circulated revealing the shortlist for the inaugural Petrona Award, for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. Congratulations to all the nominees.

Introducing a New Annual Award for Scandinavian Crime Fiction:

The Petrona Award for the Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year

The Petrona Award has been established to celebrate the work of Maxine Clarke, one of the first online crime fiction reviewers and bloggers, who died in December 2012. Maxine, whose online persona and blog was called Petrona, was passionate about translated crime fiction but in particular that from the Scandinavian countries.

The shortlist for the 2013 award, which is based on Maxine's reviews and ratings is as follows:

ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER LIFE by Leif GW Persson tr. Paul Norlen (Doubleday)

The winning title will be announced at the annual international crime fiction event CrimeFest, held 30 May to 2 June 2013. The winning author will receive a full pass for the 2014 CrimeFest event plus a guaranteed panel at the 2014 event.

From 2014 onwards a team of judges will, as well as drawing on their own expertise, apply the criteria that Maxine considered essential in a well-written crime novel: quality of plot, strength of characterisation and the consideration of contemporary social issues.

The judges are:

Barry Forshaw – Writer and journalist specialising in crime fiction and author of two books on Scandinavian crime fiction: ‘Death in a Cold Climate’ and ‘Nordic Noir’ and a biography of Stieg Larsson.

Leading Scandinavian crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw said “I’m delighted to be judging an award that is unique in recognising the influence of Scandinavian crime fiction in both the UK and abroad”.

The award is open to crime fiction in translation, either written by a Scandinavian author or set in Scandinavia and published in the UK in the previous calendar year.

Details on eligibility and how to enter for the 2014 Petrona Award can be found on the Petrona Award page of Petrona Remembered, a tribute website where fans of crime fiction can contribute by writing about a favourite book.

Friday, March 08, 2013

I've only recently discovered that UK users can now download the Overdrive App onto their Kindle Fire. I tried to do this a couple of months ago and it wasn't available but I had another look last week and it was. (Search the Kindle Fire App store for Overdrive.) This means that I can get epub ebooks via my local library and also read the epubs I bought from Kobo for my now languishing Sony eReader. (Go to Kobo, go to a title in your library and click on epub and it will prompt you whether you want to use Overdrive.)

I've not had any success with netgalley epub titles yet and I don't know if sideloading free epubs will work but this is an improvement. If only some sort of book organising function could be added as it'll surprise nobody that I have tens of books on my Kindle Fire and would love to put them into bookshelves by category...

I now have to update my spiel at work when people ask about ebooks! It may work on a Kindle if...etc.

Thursday, March 07, 2013

The House at Sea's End is the third book in Elly Griffiths's series set in North Norfolk. I've not read it yet but every time I visit North Norfolk and in particular the RSPB reserve at Titchwell I'm reminded of it:

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

BAKSHEESH is the second of the Kati Hirschel mysteries, following on from HOTEL BOSPHORUS.

Kati Hirschel is the forty-something owner of a specialist crime bookshop in Istanbul. Her parents are German but she was born in Istanbul and has spent time living in both countries and speaks Turkish with a slight accent. She borrows a phrase from Jakob Arjouni's HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TURK (which features a German born to Turkish parents):

..man opposite interrupted to compliment me on my Turkish.

In revenge, I said, “Oh yes? You, too, speak very good Turkish.”

I have to confess it wasn't original – I pinched it from a novel.

Kati's landlord has put her rent up to such a degree that she decides that it's time to own her own property. With a little bribery, the use of baksheesh, you can get first dibs on repossessed properties. When she goes to look at a potential home, an apartment, she gets into an argument with the man currently using it. So much so that he later appears at her shop, where she hits him with an ashtray in self-defence.

So when the man is found dead she is dragged in by the police. To clear her name she sets out to find out who the real murderer is and her investigation leads her to meet different strata of Turkish society.

Though BAKSHEESH has a typical amateur sleuth set-up the strength of the book is in the atmosphere of Istanbul and its society and culture as experienced by a semi-outsider. The different areas of Istanbul have their own reputations as does the country outside Istanbul. Also mentioned are the reasons for people coming to Istanbul, the story of family feuds, as well as customs for when you have visitors and so on. (We also get a look at how Kati perceives Germans.) The “genuine” reason for Kati to sleuth is soon dispensed with however she continues her investigation due to her curiosity and it's best not to think too much about the why and just enjoy the journey which is recounted in a breezy, humorous and intimate way.

BAKSHEESH is an enjoyable book which manages to immerse you in Istanbul, introduce you to some interesting characters and include a murder-mystery all in around 250 pages. Fans of Mehmet Murat Somer should also enjoy this series.

To enter the draw, to win one of these copies, just answer the question and include your details in the form below.

This competition is open to UK residents only and will close on 31 March 2013.
Only 1 entry per person/per household please.
(All entries will be deleted once the winners have been notified.)

A naked girl has washed up on the banks of the River Thames. The only clue to her identity is a heart-shaped tattoo encircling two foreign names. Who is she – and why did she die?Life’s already complicated enough for Janusz Kiszka, unofficial 'fixer' for East London’s Polish community: his priest has asked him to track down a young waitress who has gone missing; a builder on the Olympics site owes him a pile of money; and he’s falling for married Kasia, Soho’s most strait-laced stripper. But when Janusz finds himself accused of murder by an ambitious young detective, Natalie Kershaw, and pursued by drug dealing gang members, he is forced to take an unscheduled trip back to Poland to find the real killer.In the mist-wreathed streets of his hometown of Gdansk, Janusz must confront painful memories from the Soviet past if he is to uncover the conspiracy – and with it, a decades-old betrayal.

Saturday, March 02, 2013

Two of Geraldine Evans' Rafferty and Llewellyn series are currently available for free on UK Kindle. I've read and reviewed both of them on their original release in 2004/5: Dying for You, sixth in the series, and Love Lies Bleeding, the eighth.